ABOUT WHITE PAPERS

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White Papers are traditionally written in a formal report style and provided as downloadable Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) documents. However, recent innovations include formatting for on-line viewing, inclusion of more graphical content, embedded links to other material, and even video.

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Regardless of format, White Papers will often comprise the bulk of all the documents in a company's content marketing ecosystem. It is quite possible that the majority of your content marketing budget will go to the creation and maintenance of White Papers.

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Most White Papers are "evergreen" content, due to their authority and depth. This means the information will remain valid for long periods, only needing to be updated every couple of years. 

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WHO USES WHITE PAPERS?

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White Papers are often the main method by which prospective customers learn about and evaluate expensive and highly complex products. They are usually aimed at technologists who are tasked with identifying and analyzing potential solutions to specific business problems.

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Complex, high-dollar products typically have long sales cycles during which prospects learn about and evaluate offerings from multiple vendors. Therefore, your White Papers must educate prospects, guide them along their journey, and clearly differentiate you from your competition.

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TYPES OF WHITE PAPERS

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Many types of documents have been called White Papers, as indicated by the following list.

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White Papers are not simply electronic (PDF) versions of product advertising materials or data sheets. They are also not technical documents needed for implementation after the sale (user manuals, training guides, etc.)

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Various types of White Papers needed by prospective customers may include:

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• Cornerstone Articles are the main documents that reflect your business and communicate your mission. They are usually explainers - the information you want someone to read when they first visit your website. All other documents refer back to these cornerstone articles.

• Content Hubs are a special type of White Paper that contain substantial in-depth information and links to many other resources. They provide a one-stop-shop for information pertaining to a particular technology, concept, or product.

• Backgrounders and Position Papers provide information about the industry or operational environment needed in order to understand and evaluate product capabilities and features. 

• Product Overviews are high-level descriptions of product components, features, and capabilities designed to provide a general understanding of the product solution set.

• Application Guides address the use of your product to solve a certain type of problem, or in a specific environment.

• Features & Benefits show prospective customers the benefits and advantages to be expected from the use of your product.

• Product Comparisons show how the features and capabilities of your product compare to your competition. Very useful if your product is feature-rich and positioned against a small number of well-known competitors.

• FAQs (Frequently-Asked Questions) can greatly shorten the learning curve for prospective customers. They also allow you to control the dialogue and "ghost" the competition with questions that differentiate your product and identify the competition's shortcomings.

• Planning Guides provide information needed by prospective customers to evaluate the cost, resources, effort, and time that would be required to implement your product.

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SEO IMPLICATIONS OF WHITE PAPERS

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Since White Papers comprise the majority (if not the entirety) of your content marketing materials, they have the largest impact on your visibility in Internet search engines (i.e. Google and Bing).

 

Just providing great, useful, in-depth information is not enough. Companies can no longer treat their content marketing materials as a sort of downloadable electronic library. They must implement an SEO strategy embodying:

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• Keyword research

• A document "pyramid" hierarchy with cornerstone articles and content hubs at the top

• Links between documents, and back to your cornerstone articles and content hubs

• Links to useful (external) authoritative information 

• Backlinks to your documents, especially from authoritative sources

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Carefully designing and consistently implementing an SEO strategy throughout your content marketing ensures that:

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• Web crawler "bots" will be able to find and index your content marketing White Papers

• Cornerstone articles and content hubs are identified as more important and rank higher

• Your content is viewed as being more authoritative

• Your company appears in searches for desired specific "head" and "long tail" keywords

• Your company appears in the top search results for your intended customers ​